International Women’s Day 2026: Take Action for Valeryja Kaściuhova (Belarus)
Image Credit: Viyaleta Sauchyts / RFE/RL Belarus Service
“No one should have to endure years behind bars for their work. Valeryja Kaściuhova’s plight is a test of our collective conscience: the world cannot stay silent while a woman’s freedom, health, and dignity are denied. We must act, speak up, and stand with her without delay.”
Judyth Hill, Chair of the Women Writers Committee of PEN International
8 March 2026: Writer, editor and political scientist Valeryja Kaściuhova is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Homel, Belarus. Arrested in June 2021, she was convicted in March 2023 on politically motivated charges commonly used to silence independent voices and is reportedly in need of medical care.
PEN International is deeply concerned by Kaściuhova’s continued imprisonment and urges the Belarusian authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally, and to ensure she has access to adequate medical care while in detention.
Take action with us on International Women’s Day 2026.
How you can help:
PEN International calls on the Belarusian authorities to release Valeryja Kaściuhova immediately and unconditionally and ensure she receives proper medical care while detained.
Advocacy
Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Belarus, calling on them to raise the case of Kaściuhova in bilateral fora.
Solidarity
Please send messages of solidarity to Valeryja Kaściuhova. Messages can be sent via this form.
Please include a Belarusian or Russian translation of your message (e.g. using Google Translate).
Social Media
Spread the word about Valeryja Kaściuhova’s case on social media. Use the hashtags #ValeryjaKaściuhova, #IWD26 and #InternationalWomensDay, tagging @peninternational (Instagram), facebook.com/peninternational (Facebook) and @peninternational.bsky.social (Bluesky).
Bluesky
#InternationalWomensDay: Imagine being behind bars just for being a woman who writes and speaks out. The Belarusian authorities must release #ValeryjaKaściuhova immediately and unconditionally and ensure she has access to medical care while detained. Stand with her today. #IWD26
Facebook/Instagram
#InternationalWomensDay: Imagine being imprisoned simply for being a woman who writes and speaks out. The Belarusian authorities must release #ValeryjaKaściuhova immediately and unconditionally and ensure she has access to medical care while in detention.
Her imprisonment is a direct attack on women, writers, and independent voices in Belarus. Stand in solidarity with her today and demand her freedom. Every voice counts. #IWD26
Please share this graphic on social media to highlight Valeryja Kaściuhova’s case.
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Background
Valeryja Kaściuhova, a political scientist, editor, and writer, is currently serving a 10-year sentence in a general-regime penal colony in Homel, southeastern Belarus. Reports indicate that she requires medical attention.
Kaściuhova was detained on 30 June 2021 after State Security Committee (KGB) officers raided her apartment. She was then taken to a pre-trial detention facility in Minsk. Authorities charged her, alongside researcher Taćciana Kuzina, with multiple offences, including alleged calls to undermine national security, conspiracy to seize power through unconstitutional means, and incitement of social hostility, under Articles 361(3), 357(1), and 130(4) of the Belarusian Criminal Code.
Their joint trial began in Minsk on 6 February 2023. On 17 March 2023, both women were convicted and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. Kaściuhova’s sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court on 25 July 2023. The following month, her name was added to Belarus’s official lists of individuals accused of involvement in so-called “extremist” and “terrorist” activities.
Born on 30 December 1967, Kaściuhova founded and edits the independent analytical and opinion platform Nashe Mneniye (“Our Opinion”). She is also the author and editor of the Belarusian Yearbook and oversees Belarus in Focus, a group of Belarusian experts providing analytical commentaries on events pertaining to Belarus. In the aftermath of the disputed August 2020 presidential election, she published a series of analytical pieces on Nashe Mneniye examining the political situation in the country.
As repeatedly highlighted by PEN Belarus and PEN International, prison conditions in Belarus amount to torture and other ill-treatment. Several writers were released from Belarusian prisoners and sent into exile in 2025 following negotiations with the United States aimed at ifting economic sanctions — including PEN members Ales Bialiatski, Aliaksandr Fiaduta, Uladzimir Mackievič and Maksim Znak. Thirty writers and cultural figures d were either imprisoned or under house arrest on fabricated charges at the time of writing, including journalist, writer and poet Kaciaryna Andrejeva, editor, political scientist, and trade union activist Vacłaŭ Areška, songwriter and singer Dźmitryj Hałavač, and writer, journalist and 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought laureate Andrzej Poczobut.
For more information about the situation for freedom of expression in Belarus, please see PEN Belarus, PEN International, and PEN America’s joint submission to the UN Human Rights Council, which documents the Belarusian authorities’ pervasive clampdown on freedom of expression, cultural rights and linguistic rights.
For more information about the work of PEN Belarus, including their monitoring of cultural and human rights violations against cultural workers, please click here.
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Note to editors:
For further details contact Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International: [email protected]
For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, Head of Communications and Campaigns at PEN International: [email protected]